4 out of 5

While I was admittedly beginning to suspect that the Viz translation’s of Ito’s works were starting to get into the dredges, sifting through Ito forums has schooled me on how much stuff there’s left to be ported over, and also given me more appreciation for Viz’s care with these – trying not to repeat tales, giving us varied vibes in each collection, and spreading things out so some relative classics keep appearing.

Ultimately, that can still equate to a grab-bag of stuff, but this is a good one, mostly bereft of the sexism that’s “natural” in these tales – where females are all problematic and shrieking banshees – and sticking to generally balanced explorations of folklore or spins on morality tales. There’s also only one story that really suffers from Ito’s occasional inability to end something – allowing a story to just trail on and on – but the concept (‘Floaters’) is quirky enough that I can understand trying to wander toward a better conclusion that, apparently, just didn’t exist. That aside, there’s really some excellent stuff here, stretching from the more ridiculous body horror Slug Girl, to the creepiness of the titular Tombs, to the sci-fi horrors of The Strange Tale of the Tunnel. There’s even a story here which I’d say ranks with one of Junji’s best, as it has a sense of characterization, story evolution, and inevitability that’s part of most well-known stuff – and that’s the closer The Bloody Story of Shirosuna.

Presumably plucked from across a few years, the art quality is surely never poor, though some are slightly looser than others; more interesting than anything positive or negative. The collection does not include any afterword this time.